Cold Rush

Cold Rush
The Astonishing True Story
of the Quest for the Polar North
Martin Breum
McGill-Queen’s University Press, July 2018

The Astonishing True Story of the Quest for the Polar North

Martin Breum McGill-Queen’s University Press, July 2018

The heating Arctic has become a key issue in global politics. While Canada, China, Russia and the United States send submarines and icebreakers to militarize the North Pole, the ice continues to recede, creating new trade routes and opportunities for mining gas and oil. Canada claims sovereignty over the continental shelf and the Arctic Archipelago. Denmark has declared ownership of the entire European hemisphere of the Arctic. Russia has claimed more than five hundred square kilometres by planting a flag on the ocean floor underneath the North Pole. In Cold Rush, Arctic expert Martin Breum describes an aggressively militarized Arctic, with researchers encountering Russian submarines, spy-plane pilots flying over aircraft carriers, and the inhabitants of Greenland forced into a new, contentious place in international relations. What is quietly unfolding in the polar north is turning into a great game for territory and resources, set against environmental destruction caused by climate change.